Overhead conveyors of this type are normally designed to cooperate with a monorail in the form of a box beam having a medial slot on the under side through which the carrier projects so that the rollers of the carrier travel on lower flanges within the box beam. Alternatively the monorail comprises an I-beam and the carrier is designed to engage over the lower flange of the I-beam and ride on the upper surface thereof. In each case the construction limits the size of the wheels used to support the carrier on the monorail and necessitates the use of an increased number of wheels when transporting heavy loads. Furthermore the arrangement limits the curvature which may be imparted to the monorail without danger of binding between the carrier and the rail and causing excessive wear unless specially treated rails are used. Such prior art conveyors also are noisy in operation and are heavy in weight.
The present invention provides a novel conveyor arrangement which overcomes the difficulties present in the prior art conveyors of this type.